Most Influential People of the 19th and 20th Centuries

Oct 20, 2013

The Most influential people the United States made.

This article talks about those who made an impact in history, nationally and globally. The first on our list is:

John Mast:
He invented the Snap Trap in 1899. This was an invention to trap mouse. It was referred to as the original mouse trap. He was challenged by the females to invent a mouse trap that would not get tangled in their skirts.

J.P. Morgan:
He founded General Electric in 1892. He also financed Titanic. He was an art collector, having collections worth about $50 million.

Henry Ford:
He invented and developed the Model – T in 1908. He was the first to develop a car whose body is made of plastic. Today his design has been replicated leading to approximately 812 million people worldwide owning vehicles.

International Nobel Prizes
Of all Nobel prizes awarded, Americans won 39% of them all. United Kingdom won 13% while Germany won 9%. France won 7% and Switzerland won 4%. Based on the field of study, in the United States, 47% was from medicine, 68.1% was from economics, 37.8% is form chemistry while 49.5% is from physics.

• In Germany, 7.8% is from the field of medicine, 1.4% is from economics, 16.5% is from chemistry, 12% is from physics.
• In the United Kingdom, 13% is from Economics, 14.7% is from Medicine, 12% is from physics, 15.9% is from chemistry while 13% is from economics.
• For France, 1.4% is from the field of economics, 4.7% is from chemistry, 4.2% is from the field of medicine, 9% is from physics while 4.7% is from chemistry.

For the International Peace Prize, Prizes are awarded for Literature, art, film or industrial related developments that has fostered peace among nations. Paul Robeson won this prize in 1950.

For the Ghandi Peace Prize, this is a prize given for contributions made towards economics, sociological and political transformations making use of peaceful methods and other methods used by Ghandi. Coretta Scott King won this award in 2004.

Aviation and Space

In 1903, the wright brothers were the first to successfully power an airplane. Today, every year, about 7 billion miles are flown annually, this is enough to make 14,653 trips to the moon. In the aviation sector, Neil Armstrong was the first man to step on the moon while Amelia Earhart was the first woman to fly unaccompanied across the Atlantic Ocean. According to conspiracy theorists, they believe that Amelia Earhart was a spy captured by the Japanese. After she was rescued, she changed her identity and lived in New Jersey until she died in 1982.

Lewis and Clark Expedition

These were referred to as corps of discovery and expedition. They were named so because they discovered more than 170 plants and over 100 species that were not previously known to science. Between 1804 and 1806, they made the first sightings of the grizzly bear, the rattle snake and the swift fox.

Medicine & Advancement

In 1882, Dr. Robert Jarvik implanted the first Jarvik artificial heart. The first man who use the heart survived for 112 days. In 1962, James Watson discovered that DNA was shaped as a double helix. It was until 50 years later before he saw his own DNA. In 1955, Jonas Salk discovered the first Polio Vaccine. Before this time, about 21,000 suffered from this ailment. Now, it has been eradicated from the entire northern hemisphere.

Other Inventions

At the age of 11, Frank Epperson invented the Popsicle. He got this idea after he left his drink outside to freeze overnight with a stirring stick in it. It took about 18 years to get it straight before he started selling his inventions in 1905.

• The smiley emotion was invented by Scott Fahlan in 1982.

• In 1886, Seth Wheeler invented the toilet paper. It was also referred to as Bum – Paper.

After being physically and mentally disabled by a brain tumor, Brandon overcame the odds to regain his health to help his pregnant wife in her fight against stage 3 breast cancer. A couple of years later he launched his blog. Today over 1 million business owners read his blog every month. Read Brandon's inspirational comeback story here.